Monday, July 24, 2006 — I had the opportunity to try out JVC's eAVINU KV-PX9.  This is more than just your basic GPS unit.
The KV-PX9 is pre-loaded with over 13 million points of interest.  Use the touch screen to type in your destination and it can get you to where you need to go in English or Spanish.  It can map out your route to find the most direct way or avoid things like toll roads.

You can search for your destination by zip code, address or telephone number and store your favorite destinations in memory.  While there may be millions of points of interest programmed in, it's not much help when it comes to small towns, at least in this part of the country.

For example, I wanted to map out a route from El Paso to Old Mesilla.  But the best the GPS could do is give me Mesilla Park.  Also, during a road trip to Albuquerque, I used the GPS to try to find a Sam's Club or Costco to buy gasoline.  But when you look under retailers in the guide, you won't find warehouse stores listed.  Even trying to type in Sam's Club wasn't successful.  I've noticed that JVC has just made a database update available as of July 21st. Maybe they've included more retail places in this update.

The KV-PX9 has a hard drive with room for mp3 music, JPEG photos and Windows movie files.  You can download them to the unit with the USB cable that's included or play back from the SD card slot.

The KV-PX9 runs for about 4 hours straight on a rechargeable battery or you can plug it in to your vehicle's car lighter socket.

The $750 suggested retail price may be too high for many people looking to buy a GPS unit.  But the additional entertainment features are a good selling point. Learn more about the KV-PX9 here.